


Johanna Reid nay Stark

by sunsetstargazer



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Didn't know they were a father, Domestic Avengers, Father-Daughter Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, Protective Avengers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-31
Updated: 2017-08-03
Packaged: 2018-12-09 07:05:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11664093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunsetstargazer/pseuds/sunsetstargazer
Summary: Jo never knew her father was until her mum died when she was 15 and she finds a shoebox that reveals all. Another Tony-daughter fic but please give it a chance





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> A/N So I'm starting another o/c fic even though I really should finish my other ones but this has been bugging me so here we go again. I plan to include all of the Avengers as well as Peter Parker in this story, other characters from the MCU may be mentioned but they'll be the main ones. By the way this is going to be set in a bit of an AU where the events of civil war didn't happen and the avengers are still living in avenger's tower in New York but Peter is about where he is post Civil War i.e. Tony knows about him and has given him the suit but the rest of the world doesn't know who he is including the other avengers, hope this makes sense. Oh and JARVIS is still around as an AI so no vision as confusing as this all is but it's my story so I'll do as I please

Sandy was in a bar in Manhattan in December of 2000 when she met him, he barged in at about 1:00am stumbling around loud and demanding a drink. She never normally would have even thought to go near a guy like him but she'd just broken up with her boyfriend of 3 years and she was angry and more than slightly drunk herself. She walked straight up to him an asked if he wanted to dance with her, something fast-paced was pouring out of the stereo in the corner of the room and she was feeling bold. He looked her up and down in a side glance and put his drink down on the bar extending his hand to her, they walked to the centre of the room and joined the other people already dancing and danced around laughing together losing track of time.

By 3:00am the bar was emptying and it was clear he wanted to leave, so after a moment's deliberation clear on his face, he asked her if she wanted to come with him. She didn't even hesitate before grabbing her jacket off the stool by the bar and taking his hand, they stepped out into the freezing night air and he quickly walks over to an Audi parked illegally on the curb. They got in and he drove her to a hotel that she could never possibly afford normally, he parked at the entrance and instantly someone stepped up to take his keys which he simply tossed in their direction. She scurried after him feeling distinctly out of place and starting to wonder just who this man was, she didn't recognise him but then again, she didn't really keep up to date much with news so he could be famous for all she knew. He strides past the reception and none of the staff bat an eyelid at this man walking into their hotel without warning at 3 in the morning followed by a nervous looking woman, they get in the elevator and he leans over kissing her on the neck. She jumps at first but relaxes soon and even returns the kiss on his cheek. The door to the elevator opens into what must be the penthouse and she stumbles in shock, everything in the room looks like it would fund her for the rest of her life. She steps in carefully now feeling completely out of place but he pulls her towards the bed, already undoing the back of her dress.

When she wakes up in the morning she can't remember anymore after that point but she can fill in the blanks since she wakes up naked in the bed still in the penthouse, feeling the other side of the bed, she finds it empty and knows that he's gone already. She sits up and notices a piece of paper on the bedside table next to her, to her surprise it has her name on the front; Sandy Reid. She picks it up and unfolds it.

"Sandy,  
Thanks for an amazing night but we could never take it further. I'm sorry.  
From  
Well, you'll figure it out."  
She re-folded the note and put it back down, what the hell had she gone and done?

6 Weeks Later

Sandy looked down at the little blue plus sign and sighed, now she was really done for, no boyfriend, minimum wage job and now she's pregnant. She could have an abortion but she had been raised Christian and even though she didn't really hold onto all the aspects of it, she just couldn't bring herself to go and get the abortion. Her parents had died years ago and she has no family left, this child could give her the family she had wanted so desperately for years. So, she made the bravest decision of her life and kept the baby, she worked hard looking for jobs wherever she could and saving money so she could be ready. It wasn't until late one night when she was watching the news rubbing at her 8-month pregnancy bump that she saw him again and realised that the father of her child was the one and only Tony Stark.


	2. All Alone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N Another chapter coming up now, I'm hoping to keep up a fast ish pace of updating this story so you should be seeing more again soon. Please read and review and as usual I still own no one in this except Jo I guess.

January 2017

Jo walked along the hall towards the office, someone had come to her class and told her the principal wanted to see her. Her classmates had jeered and drummed on the table as she walked out presuming she was in trouble but she walked out ignoring them, probably just the school trying to get her to take part in another competition, she's always been smart and is constantly doing competitions. Last time it was the Academic Decathlon so she can only guess it'll be something similar this time.

She knocks on the door waiting for someone inside to call that she could come in, before opening the door and stepping inside. To her surprise there were two cops stood in the room with the principal, they turned and looked towards her sympathy obvious in their eyes and she instantly knew something had happened.

"Johanna, why don't you sit down?" the principal said gesturing towards the sofa against the wall and she carefully perched herself on the edge of it. She fiddled about with her fingers feeling her heartbeat beginning to pick up, and she tried to take steady breaths, but the gaze of the two police officers wasn't helping.

"Ms. Reid, at 1 o'clock this afternoon we were called to the scene of a car accident, when we got there we found 2 cars were involved one was a drunk driver and the other unfortunately was your mother. Paramedics and doctors did all they could to save her but…" the police officer said. She didn't hear the rest of what was said as her world sucked in around her and she could no longer focus on anything, she didn't need to hear them say it to know that her mother was dead. Her mother has always been her world, the two of them were all they had in this world and now she was gone, she couldn't breathe at the thought.

She didn't know how long she'd been hyperventilating for but her vision was starting to grey out around the edges because she wasn't getting enough air. Suddenly a hand was on her shoulder and she was being pulled against someone's chest, she could feel the warmth of them through their clothes and she latched onto the person as she sobbed and tried desperately to breathe. After a few minutes, a familiar voice began to float into her ears and she realised that she was clinging to Peter Parker, her best friend other than Ned of course. They must have called him in as well when the news came in and she was grateful for it now because without him she would be swirling in her grief with no-one to help ground her. As it was it took her at least another 10 minutes to pull herself together enough to look up again and Peter kept his arm around her the whole time whispering comforts in her ear. She looked up and saw that the cops were still stood there obviously waiting so they could continue and so she told them to continue.

"Well since you have no other family or listed guardians you will have to go into emergency foster care for tonight until something more permanent can be worked out. I am so sorry for your loss" the police officer said.

"She can stay with me, my aunt won't mind" Peter started saying, but the officer cut him off.

"I'm sorry but Ms. Reid has to come with us for tonight, we can't allow a minor to go with someone who isn't family unless they are already a registered foster parent" he said standing and opening the door, gesturing for her to go outside. She hugs Peter one last time before standing shakily and walking out of the room. Once outside she follows the cops back to their car and they drive her over to a house somewhere in Queens taking her inside and introducing her to the foster parents that she is to stay with for the foreseeable future. All too soon she is sat alone in the unfamiliar bedroom with nothing but the clothes on her back and her phone. Taking it out she sees 6 missed calls from Peter and Ned and about 30 texts from the two of them combined all asking if she was ok or begging her to reply. She sent a quick text to both of them saying that she was fine and that she'd talk to them tomorrow, before lying down on the bed and crying until she eventually fell to sleep.


	3. Your dad's who?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N Here again, please read and review and enjoy

The next morning Jo wakes up and for a moment she doesn't remember where she is, she looks around at the unfamiliar walls and panics slightly wondering what has happened but then it hits her like a wave and she remembers that her mum is gone. With a shaky breath, she pushes herself up and goes downstairs, still in her clothes from yesterday and takes a slice of toast from the table without a word to the two strangers temporarily acting as her guardians. She leaves the house and sets off for the nearest subway station, where she immediately heads for home, or at least the flat that she shared with her mom, not that it's a home anymore. Stepping inside she sees the chaos that they always leave it in, neither of them really bothered to do much cleaning, Jo because she's a teenager and her mom because she worked 3 jobs just to get them by. She goes through to her mom's bedroom and lays down on the bed, enjoying the familiar scent of her perfume and remembering the times they'd watched movies together hear and laughed together. She feels the tears threatening to fall but forces them down again knowing she can't cry forever.

She opens her mom's closet and runs her hand along the clothes trying to remember every detail of her, but her eye is caught by a box in the corner of the top shelf. She'd never seen it before and pulled it down wondering what could be in it, once she'd set it on the bed she opened it and was shocked to see it full of pictures, of the two of them together, going all the way back to when she was just a baby. At the bottom of the box she finds one picture that strikes her as odd, it's a polaroid picture, and it's clearly her mom in the picture, probably taken about 20 years ago, but the shocking part is the man in the picture with her. Tony Stark grins at her from the picture, and as she pulls the rest of the pictures out she sees several pieces of paper at the bottom, one her birth certificate which she has seen before of course, with the father line left blank like it always has been. Jo had always known that she was the result of her one-night stand and her mom had always claimed to not know who the man was, and that she didn't want him to feel as though he had any responsibility for her because it was her mom that chose to keep her. Looking through the other letters she begins to realise that her mom had lied to her, there was several publicity shots of Mr. Stark in the box and comparing them it was clearly him in the polaroid picture, and there was even a newspaper clipping of a report about "Mr. Stark being seen with a mystery woman at the Park Hyatt in December 2000". This couldn't be true could it, surely her mom would have told her, but at the very bottom she finds two letters, one with her own name on it and one addressed to "Tony".

She opened her letter with shaky hands taking out the piece of paper inside and unfolded it laying it out on the bed in front of her so she could read it.

"Dear Jo,  
I hope you never have to find out like this, if you've found this box then you probably already know what I have to tell you. I've always told you I don't know who your father is because it was easier than telling you the truth, I didn't want you to get your hopes up because your father is not a man who you come across every day. We met in the Golden Rabbit bar in Manhattan it's been destroyed now, but we danced together and he asked me to go with him. I did even though I thought it may have been a bad idea but you came out of it and you always have been and always will be my entire world. His name is Tony Stark, and I doubt he'll even remember who I am but I just wanted you to know who he is, I planned to tell you when you turned 18 but obviously something has happened. I'm so sorry I can't be with you now but know that I'll always be watching over you.  
Love Mom"

Jo was shaking again by the time she finished reading the note and felt herself getting dizzy, she looked again through the pieces of paper and this time found a folded piece of paper with her mom's name on the outside and sees the Park Hyatt logo in the corner, this must be the note he left her based on what it says. She's jolted from her thoughts by a knock on the door and jumps sending the papers in her hands flying everywhere, she grabs them shoving them back in the box and closing it before going to open the door. She looks through the peephole and sees Ned and Peter on the other side of the door, she immediately throws open the door and pulls them inside.

"What are you guys doing here?" she says sounding more panicked than she intended.

"We knew you wouldn't be coming to school and Pete thought you might be here and we didn't want you to be alone" Ned said looking anywhere but at her, and she smiles at his familiar nervous energy.

"It's fine Ned, I'm glad you two are here, I'm just… having a hard time computing all of this" she says still breathing heavily.

"Why don't we go sit down? We can talk…" Peter suggests and the three of them go to the couch they've sat on so many times together before but never under these circumstances.

"Sooo" Ned says but Jo can't take it anymore.

"Can you guys keep a secret?" she notices them immediately stiffen and wonders what nerve she's just hit but can't contain herself enough to care.

"Like, I need to tell you something but you can tell no-one I mean no-one at all, if you can't keep it then say now because I really need your help" she says desperately and can see them relax again as they realise she wants to tell them something.

"Of course, we would never tell anyone if you said we couldn't, right?" Peter says, looking at Ned who also nods.

"So, my mom always told me she didn't know who my father was, he was a one-night stand and all that but… I just found something and... Wait here" she gets up without warning and goes to get the box from her mother's room, leaving the two of them sat there confused.

When she returns she puts the box on the dining table and the two of them come over to watch as she pulls out the pictures, when she reaches the bottom she pulls out the polaroid and shows them it.

"That's Tony Stark, are you saying he's your…?" Ned says looking confused.

"There's a letter to. Look she says that she was going to tell me when I turned 18 and explains how they met. I don't know what to do now. I might still have another family member out there, but there's no way anyone will believe it, and besides he's Tony Stark, there's no way I can even get in contact with him." Jo says looking down at the letter in her hands.  
"Umm, there may be a way for that to happen actually" Peter says looking around very shiftily.

"What do you mean?" she says looking between the two of them, Ned obviously knows something as well by the way he's looking round again.

"You have to understand Ned only found out by accident and that I never would have told him either because I needed to protect the two of you" Peter says.

"Get to the point Pete" Jo says.

"I'm Spiderman" Peter says, but Jo doesn't jump back in horror or whatever Peter was expecting her to do. "Did you hear me? I'm Spiderman".

"Oh no I heard you Pete, to be honest I already suspected you were, for a while now and figured you would tell me when you're ready" Jo said smiling at him for the first time since yesterday. "But, not that that isn't a revelation and all but how does that help with Mr. Stark?".

"I know Mr. Stark, he made me my suit, I could probably get him to meet with you, or we could always spring in on him I guess" Peter said.

This time Jo's jaw drops open, "You know him, how could you know Tony Stark and keep that hidden" she says slapping him on the shoulder.

"Well if I told you I knew him then you'd have known I was Spiderman so I had to keep both a secret, but no I can go with you and we should be able to see him" Peter offered.

"No, I need to do this alone, you can help me get in contact with him but I will go alone to see him" Jo said determination in her voice.

"Ok, I understand, I can text Happy and ask if there's any way to meet up with him, I'll just tell him that it's really important" Peter said already getting out his phone.

"Wait who's Happy?" Jo asked putting a hand out to stop Peter typing anything into his phone.

"Oh right, Happy is Mr. Starks assistant slash driver person, I'm not really sure but I'm supposed to text him if I need anything and it's the only way I've got to get in contact with him so it's our best bet." Peter says looking up at her.

"Ok, go ahead I guess" Jo says shakily sitting down on a chair at the dining table looking at the polaroid picture again.


	4. The Meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N Now it gets more interesting for Jo. Please read and review

"Happy replied, gosh he hasn't replied to me in like two weeks, I can't believe it. Right, he says that Mr. Stark wants to know what it's about, and that he's not a 'show pony who I can trot out for my friends whenever I want, so it better be real important'" Peter reads from the text.

"We can't tell him in a text, umm I don't know what to do" Jo says panicking again from her seated position on the chair still.

"Relax its ok we'll work it out. Maybe we should just go over to the tower and try it that way and hope he'll let us talk to him?" Ned suggests.

"Can we really just turn up like that though, it's like the most secure building in the city, you can't just walk in" Jo says incredulous.

"Maybe you can't" Peter says winking at her.

"Oh god Peter what's going through that little head of yours now?" Jo asks looking apprehensive.

"Well he has his JARVIS installed in the tower and she knows who I am so maybe if we turn up he might let me in and I can ask if they'll let you two in?" Peter suggests looking hopeful.

"It could be worth a shot, I guess" Jo says carefully, but you can't tell him why I'm there, just say that I really need to talk to him, as a favour to you or something, whatever you have to say just don't tell him who I am" Jo says, and Peter nods solemnly promising not to.

"So, are we going to Avenger's Tower then?" Ned asks looking hyped and terrified at the same time.

"Yes" Jo says with a shaky breath and picks up the polaroid and all the letters and the article, and putting them in her backpack, before shouldering it and heading for the door.  
They use the subway again to get to the tower emerging back into the bitterly cold air with shivers from all of them, and craning their necks to see to the very top. After one final look shared between them they all step into the entryway, Jo and Ned stop just inside the door and wait hoping that they're not about to be shot or something by hidden lasers, while Peter walks into the centre of the room.

"Mr. Parker, Sir wishes to know why you have come so unexpectedly and brought company even though Sir is under the impression that no one knew of your relationship with him" JARVIS said seemingly from everywhere at once.

"That's not actually what he said is it JARVIS" Peter says with a smile.

"No but I chose to paraphrase since some of his language may be inappropriate in front of minors." JARVIS said again.

"Well could you tell him that I have come with my friend Johanna Reid and that she has discovered something that she really needs to talk to him about, she doesn't want me to say anymore because she wants to talk to him in person so please as a favour to me can he come down here, or can we go up, but it's essential that we get to talk to him and the sooner   
the better" Peter says knowing full well that Mr. Stark is likely watching the feed of this right now.

They all jump when doors on the other side of the room open and an elevator is revealed. "Sir is on the 42nd floor" JARVIS says and Peter looks over to Ned and Jo with a tentative smile.

The three of them stepped into the lift tentatively, there was no buttons so they just looked around expectantly, and as expected the doors closed and they felt the acceleration as the elevator shot upwards carrying them up the 42 floors in only about 20 seconds. The doors opened and Jo wasn't sure she's even going to be able to take a step she was shaking so badly. Peter went ahead of the other two knowing how terrified they must be, they followed him out and into a bland looking corridor, a door at the end of the corridor slid open and they entered the room. What they saw when they entered made even Peter stop, this was clearly Mr. Stark's personal lab, various bits of Iron Man armour amongst other tech that they didn't recognise was scattered around the huge lab, floor to ceiling windows covered the entire wall of the lab allowing the light from outside to flood in.

Jo was overwhelmed for a moment and imagined that this must be how her mother had felt walking into the Park Hyatt all those years ago with a man she'd only just met. Speaking of the man, Jo could see a figure bent over one of the various desks fiddling with something that seemed to be giving off sparks but he wasn't distracted by them and kept going. She watched as Peter stepped over and cleared his throat.

"Umm, Mr. Stark I'm sorry for barging in like this, these are my friends Ned Leeds and Jo Reid, Jo really needs to talk to you and I think you are going to want to talk to her as well." Peter says carefully.

"I already heard you say that downstairs kid, JARVIS passed it all on, so Ms. Reid what can I do for you?" Tony said turning to face Jo fully and she forces herself to breathe again.

"Umm, you m-might not remember but in December 2000 you met a woman in the Golden Rabbit bar in Manhattan and you a-asked her to go with you, she w-went and you went to the Park Hyatt t-together" Jo said her voice shaking on every word. She saw the frown forming on the man's face and pulled her rucksack of her back, walking over to place it on a nearby table that was clear of stuff luckily. She unzipped it and rummaged around pulling out the note with her mom's name on it.

"You left this the next morning when you left before she woke up" she then pulled out the polaroid picture "and here's a picture that I think was taken at the bar of you two" she handed both of them to him and he took them his calloused hands rough when they brush against hers.

"Yeah, I remember her why? We had a good night but that's all it was, I never saw her again" he said starting to look sceptical.

"Umm I was born September 2nd, 2001, and well my mom always told me that my father was someone she'd had a one night stand with but she insisted that she knew he didn't want anything to do with her so she said she didn't tell him that I exist. Mr. Stark my m-mom died in a car crash yesterday morning and I found this box in her room, I've got a letter she wrote for you, I haven't opened it b-but…" Jo cuts herself off knowing that she's going to cry soon and so instead she just holds out the letter. She looks up into his eyes and can see the dawning realization of what she's saying in his eyes, he snatches the letter from her and she jumps back slightly. He rips open the envelope and his eyes quickly scan the lines of writing before he reaches up running his hand through his hair. She doesn't quite know what to do at this point and the look in Mr. Starks eyes is starting to scare her, he looks angry and she becomes convinced he is angry at her, she starts putting the things back into her bag and slings it over her shoulder backing away from him slightly.

"So I'm… I'm your father, is that what you're saying then" he says looking for all the world as though he's going to cry. She keeps backing up until she walks into Ned who is still frozen behind her, he puts a hand up squeezing her shoulder and stepping around so that he is between Jo and Mr. Stark, because he doesn't like the way the man is behaving either.

"Yes, but I don't want anything from you or anything like that, I was just kind of hoping I might at least you know get the chance to know you, it's only ever been me and my mum and so you're now the only family I have left so… yeah, but don't worry if you don't want me I can just go now and you'll never have to see me if you don't want to, I can go back to those foster parents they seemed ok" Jo realised she was mumbling.

"Don't worry Jo you can stay with either of us, we won't let you end up with strangers" Peter says confidently re-appearing in Jo's line of sight and offering her a slight smile.  
"Jo, if you don't mind me calling that, I never forgot about your mother, I have had a lot of one-night stands over the years and it's always the same, they would recognise me and I could tell that they just wanted me for my fame and money, but your mother she was different, I knew that she had no idea who I was. She walked up to me in the bar and just asked if I wanted to dance, there was no pretence to it, just a simple request for a dance and we had so much fun, I asked her to come with me and she did, I wanted so badly to stick around and be with her but I knew that she wouldn't want the kind of life that would come with being with me, so I left before she woke up, I kept tabs on her to make sure she was ok over the years but I never knew she had a child… But now I know about you I want to be in your life. I'm not perfect so you'll have to get used to that but I want to try and do better with you than I did with your mother." He said looking into her eyes he could see the resemblance to both himself and to Sandy in this girl's face and was sure that she was his, there was no doubt about it.

"I would like that Mr. Stark" Jo said carefully but now stepping out from behind Ned again.

"Please if you don't mind call me Tony, Mr. Stark makes me feel old, which I'm definitely not" Tony said with a smile.

"Ok, Tony" Jo said.


	5. Are you Bruce Banner

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N Another update so quick I'm doing well again. Please read and review

The 4 of them in the room had been stood in silence for almost a minute when Tony spoke up.

"Why don't we all go upstairs and we could have some lunch? I'm guessing you haven't eaten yet, and Pete I know you can usually eat half a horse?" Tony said hoping to ease the tension.

"Yeah that would be good I'm always hungry" Peter said but to everyone's surprise the rumble of hunger came from Jo's stomach not Peter's, they all turn to look at her.

"Sorry, I guess I haven't eaten since yesterday." Jo mumbled looking down shyly.

"Well JARVIS I'll have a pepperoni pizza, what about you guys?" Tony said, looking around at the 3 expectantly.

"Just a burger and fries" Ned says not sure if he should be getting money out or not.

"I'll have 3 margarita pizzas" Peter says getting a laugh from Tony at the amount of food.

"Umm, a meat feast pizza I guess" Jo unsure. Since she realized that she hasn't eaten or drunk in so long she was starting to feel the painful growling of her stomach, it felt like her stomach was trying to eat itself from the inside out.

"Why don't we go up to the communal floor, then we can have the food up there?" Tony says clearly uncomfortable, he still was clutching the letter Jo had given him, but shoves it in his pocket as he walks over towards the door. He pauses in the doorway looking over at the teens who were still stood frozen, with a wave of his hand they all jump into action and walk over to the door.

Jo had been lost in thought, that was much easier than expected, though she supposed that he would probably want to do DNA tests and things because she knows that plenty of people will have tried to claim they were his child in the past and he won't be so naïve to believe her based just on what she's said, but for now it seems he's taking her word for it. She jumps when she realizes the others are leaving the room and hurries to follow them, as she gets to the door she stumbles suddenly starting to feel light-headed. She holds onto the doorframe for a second before pushing off and walking on along behind the others. Peter is talking to Tony about something to do with his suit, but Jo isn't listening any more, she can feel herself shaking and sweat is forming on her face, she feels freezing all of a sudden and even the slight breeze as she walks makes her shiver. When they reach the lift again she leans against the wall inside allowing the others to do the talking but her legs are trembling under her and the fast-upward motion of the lift sure isn't helping.

The doors open again revealing the communal floor, which at any other point Jo would have paused to marvel at but she could barely stand upright so instead she forces her shaking legs to walk to the massive sofa in the middle of the room, she just about sits down rather than falls down and immediately drops her head into her hands breathing in deeply counting each breath for 4 seconds in 4 seconds out. She sees someone in front of her and can hear voices around the room but can't focus enough and slowly slips forward accepting the blackness with no way to fight it.

Peter had just thought that Jo was deep in thought because normally he'd never seen her be this quiet but when the doors opened he knew something was wrong, she practically ran from the elevator looking as though she was going to trip over her own feet at any second. He quickly followed her out of the lift leaving Ned and Tony behind, and he makes it to the sofa next to her just as she sits forwards. Getting a look at her face he can see that her skin has completely lost all its colour and there's a thin sheen of sweat covering her face, he puts his hand on her shoulder and feels her trembling muscles and knows that this must be the lack of food and water catching up to her.

"Is she ok?" everyone in the room jumps at once not having realised anyone else was in the room. Looking over Peter sees a man with dark hair wearing a purple shirt, standing in the kitchen area with a bottle of water in his hands.

"Uhh, I think so she hasn't eaten or drunk anything since yesterday so she should be ok if she drinks something, she was fine a minute ago" Peter said carefully not sure who it is but sure he recognises the man. He leans in closer to Jo and tries to get her attention but she seems to be slipping forwards no longer able to hold herself up, he easily takes her weight holding her up as she slumps over his shoulder, but isn't sure where to go from there. The man from the kitchen puts down his water bottle and jogs round towards the two of them.

"She needs to be laying down, if we get her feet up she should come around, then we try to get her to drink something" the man says taking charge instantly and lifting Jo off of Peter laying her flat on the couch, and pulling her legs up putting the pillows under them. Peter stepped back watching as the man felt her pulse on her wrist and everyone in the room watched her pale face.

Jo slowly came back from the blackness blinking her eyes open slowly, and trying to decipher the blur of shapes in front of her eyes, Peter's face was the first thing to come into focus and she smiled at how worried he looked. She looked around seeing Ned and Mr. Stark standing behind the couch looking down at her, finally her eyes came to rest on the only person in the room who wasn't there before.

"Are you Bruce Banner?" Jo mumbles not quite sure if she's hallucinating or not because she is still feeling very shaky but based on the smile forming on the mans and the fact that she's in avengers tower she guesses that this is actually happening.

"That's who you are oh my god I knew I'd seen you somewhere, we've all read your work on gamma radiation and we even did a paper together about you a couple of years ago, I…" Peter began rambling and Jo knew that they'd lose him if she didn't cut him off, so she raised a shaking hand and poked him in the chest.

"Later, Pete" Jo said before letting her hand flop back down and huffing out a breath.

"How are you feeling? Still dizzy I'm guessing but do you feel sick?" Bruce said still smiling from her reaction.

"I'm ok I think, just need a drink" Jo says slowly pushing herself up so that she was sat against the arm of the couch, she noticed the Bruce was hovering close still and was holding her wrist checking her pulse. Tony materialized next to her with a glass of water which she took in still shaking hands and carefully lifted it to her mouth taking a few sips, Bruce takes the glass putting it on the table.

"So, Tony you going to explain why there's suddenly three teenagers in the tower, when I thought you didn't like kids" Bruce said sitting back on his heels and looking around   
expectantly.

"Oh right umm, it's complicated, I'll explain it eventually but for now this is Jo, Peter and Ned" Tony said pointing to each of them as he says there names. Just as Bruce goes to open his mouth again JARVIS interrupts them.

"Sir the food has arrived downstairs, I took the liberty of adding on Mr. Banners usual pesto panini and fries seeing as he will be joining you I presume" JARVIS announced to the room causing Tony smirks.

"Thanks JARVIS have it brought up" Tony says standing and walking over towards the lift presumable to get the food from whoever brings it up.

"So Dr. Banner is it true that you managed to prove that Gamma radiation…" Peter went off again excitedly, but Bruce cut him off with a hand held up shyly.

"Probably yes but maybe we could discuss it another time, and please call me Bruce, so what brought you three to the tower then, and how did you come to get in this state Jo" Bruce said looking at her carefully watching her reaction.

Jo shrank in on herself slightly and had to hold back the urge to cry again, she felt she'd done enough of that already and she couldn't cry forever. "Umm, well it's a l-long story, I don't know if Tony's going to want to tell you himself because he knows you and n-no offence other than reading your research I don't know much about you or if I can trust you" Jo says watching the look in Bruce's eyes turn to curiosity because he now knows this must be something big. Tony walks back with the bag of food hearing the end of the conversation.

"It's ok Jo I trust Bruce completely you can tell him, I will later if I can find the words" Tony says looking sincere and Jo looks across at Bruce who looks happier than she's seen a person before when Tony says that he trusts him. Jo knows in that instant that she can tell him, the rest of the Avengers will probably find out anyway since Tony won't be able to keep her hidden from everyone on the planet.

"Ok, well I'm Johanna Reid, my mom met Tony back in 2000, and they had got along very well if you catch my drift, and well I was born in 2001, my mother never told me who my father was but umm s-s-she died yesterday, and well I found a picture of them together and letters from her explaining what happened and well, long story short, Tony is my dad" Jo says looking down at her hands the entire time but in her peripheral vision she sees Bruce's head snap up towards Tony and she doesn't dare to look up not wanting to see the reaction.

"Are you sure?" Bruce says carefully, obviously not wanting to upset her further.

"Of course, I'm sure, are you trying to say my mother lied to me, how dare you!" Jo shouts with a sudden surge of rage and she's up on her feet, charging away from Bruce, how dare he imply that about her mother would make something like this up. She has made it to the other side of the room before she turns back and sees that Bruce is still sat where he was but he's now breathing carefully and deliberately his eyes fixed straight ahead.

"I'm sorry Bruce I didn't mean that I'm just angry that she's gone, are you ok you look a little green" Jo says noticing the slightest tinge of green forming at the edge of his eyes and she steps closer to put a hand on his shoulder.

"No, step back, Bruce listen to me no-one here is threatening anyone, I don't want to have to get the windows re-done again, come on Bruce there we go, you back again." Tony says keeping up a constant stream of calming chatter and Jo watches as the green fades from Bruce's face and he slowly stands up and looks towards her.

"Thanks Tony. Sorry about that, I know you weren't really angry at me, just I know what it's like, losing your mother that is" Bruce says looking at her, and in that instant Jo realizes what just happened, but she doesn't want Bruce to think she's afraid so she steps forwards so she is only a step away from Bruce and holds her arms out indicating she wants to hug him.

"Truce?" Jo says. Bruce smiles looking relieved but is still apprehensive about the hug and she can feel that he is still stiff, even as he hugs her but she is determined that she will be able to make him relax.

"Wow, how come I never get to hug Bruce, I thought no-one got honoured like that" Jo nearly jumped out of her skin and Peter restrained himself from hitting the ceiling when the unfamiliar voice came from the direction of the lift. They turned to look and saw a man with short blonde hair and wearing a vest and sweatpants standing by the lift, this must be Hawkeye, though his real name isn't public.

"Clint, you know for once you could enter a room without making everyone jump, just because you're the top secret super spy and all that you don't have to do that all the time." Tony says from over by the kitchen where he is still sorting the food out.

"I could but that would be no fun, so seriously why is Bruce giving out hugs to teenage girls and why are these two looking like they want the ground to swallow them?" Clint says, Peter and Ned immediately looked up and tried to look less out of place than they felt.

"What's it to you if I wanted to hug Bruce?" Jo says walking over to stand directly in front of Clint having to look up at him but still managing to look down on him somehow "Maybe if you tried a little harder to not have the hobo look going on you might see some more action too" she says darkly to him poking at his vest covered chest before spinning on her heel and walking over towards the kitchen snatching the box containing her meat feast pizza. She'd just sat back on her couch when she heard chuckling coming from Clint.

"I like her, she's kinda like a way less lethal Nat, though you could stand to work on your scowl kid" Clint says laughing and walking over to snatch a piece of pizza from Tony, before strolling over to the lift again. The others slowly moved to the kitchen getting their food and coming over to sit down on the couch, with Jo.

"So you said you're with foster parents, do you know their names, I need to get my lawyers going right away, we'll need to do a DNA test to prove that you're my daughter, but I need to keep this private, I can't let anyone know who you are because that would put you in danger, JARVIS start searching everything we need to do…" Tony starts talking not even touching the pizza in front of him.

"Woah what do you mean? I thought you'd just want to meet me, why do you need lawyers, I promise I didn't come here for money or anything, you're my only family that I've got left I had only hoped to get to see you" Jo said feeling slightly panicked, she hadn't actually expected him to want to go this far, it's not that she didn't want to be with him but she only lost her mom yesterday so she's feeling overwhelmed again.

"Jo, look at me I've missed 15 years of your life, I'm not just going to leave you, I'm your father and I know that what you've heard about me probably isn't very good, but I promise I'm going to do everything I can for you from here on out, including getting you out of that foster home, you're moving in here." Tony says leaving no room for argument in what he says.

"Thank you, Tony, I can't believe this I thought I was going to be on my own when they said mom is dead" Jo says, leaning over to hug Tony who's sat next to her on the couch.


End file.
